


Jyubaku

by Okami_no_fude



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Debate on the Morals of Magick, First attempt on Mystery, Graphic Description of Corpses, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Murder Mystery, Vio-centric, a lot of OCs - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 03:01:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20323984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okami_no_fude/pseuds/Okami_no_fude
Summary: Vio's dislike for dark magic was rather strong, and he was very biased about it.That view was going to be challenged when he stumbles into a crime scene.Will he be able to solve the case in time, for the sake of the people involved and for his own sanity?





	Jyubaku

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this is going to be my first attempt on a mystery fic, so I will apologize in advance if the plot is too easy to solve.
> 
> Fair warning, there are certain aspects of this fic where I pulled inspiration on Wiccan culture, and the concept of the Left-Hand Path and the Right-Hand Path in Western esotericism. If you are uncomfortable with any of this, please turn back. Also while it is brief, there are mentions of blood and gore, so if you are uncomfortable with that, please turn back.
> 
> Please enjoy!
> 
> Linked Universe is created by @jojo56830 on Tumblr.  
Legend of Zelda and related media belongs to Nintendo.

_‘Goddess damn it all’,_ Vio internally cried out as he stomped through the forest, seething and needing to cool down from the argument he had with his three other counterparts. They were all dealing with some shock when they learned the affinity of the magic that Twilight was using to transform. As a whole, Four did not like dark magic and anything remotely related to evil magic. As such, they would have on principle wrote off Twili magic as dark. 

If not for one of his fellow heroes, Twilight, using that brand of magic on a regular basis. 

Which brought them to the argument on how to deal with the news about Twilight. Red was okay with it, Green was on the fence, Blue was surprisingly not commenting about it... 

And himself? He was not wanting to really deal with the shadow magic.

And here he was because he needed to be alone for a moment. 

He knew that he really should not be wandering off near night time, but he wished to be away from his counterparts and the source of their argument.

In his moment of frustration, he was a little unobservant of his surroundings, so he never really noticed the odd fog that was steadily growing in thickness the more he walked deeper into the forest.

\---

Vio eventually arrived at a cleared pathway, which he was a little surprised at, given that he had found no trace of people traveling through this area earlier. Intrigued, Vio followed the pathway that led to a large clearing, where one could see the night sky. 

_‘When did it get this late?’ _he thought as he looked at the night sky with the moon.

Which was supposed to be a full moon, but he could visibly see the full moon having a third of its reflective surface missing, as if something had taken a bite off the moon. It was slowly waning.

_‘A lunar eclipse? I didn’t think there was one today?’_

A little bit confused but shrugging it off as it was a natural if uncommon phenomenon, Vio continued a bit forward. 

In front of him, he saw an old stone archway, with the fading words of ‘Kiro Town’ carved into it.  
Vio had never heard any Kiro village before, so of course, he was a little suspicious, but he saw completely ordinary people finishing up doing their last bit of work for the day beyond the archway.

“You there, with the purple tunic, are you perhaps a traveler?” 

Vio turned his attention to whoever was calling. Near the base of the stone archway, there was a lone person armed with a spear.

The purple-clad hero nodded his head. “Yes, I am. I am hoping to restock on some things. Does your establishment sell any healing potions, bandages, and some arrows?” He might as well take advantage of getting some supplies while he stopped by at this village. It would also help him take his mind off from what he was frustrated about.  
  
The guard nodded his head. “We do, traveler. That would be Verity’s Apothecary for the potions, the clinic for the bandages, and Ishtari Works for arrows and other weaponry. Mind you, we do not have that many weapons besides bow and arrows, as we are a peaceful village. You would locate the Ishtari Works near the right edge of the central fountain plaza, and the apothecary is situated in the back alley that starts from the Ishtari works. The clinic would be at the second alleyway to the left from the alley with the apothecary. I think the smithy is closed for the day though. If you wish to get arrows, I would suggest you stay for the night, the inn is the light brown building with a red roof. Besides,” the guard lowered his voice a little. “The Lunar moon is upon us, and the forest has some dangerous creatures that come out during this time. I would not recommend wandering in the forest tonight.” 

  
Vio acknowledged the guard’s warning, and he bid a farewell as he took a step inside the village. While the village did not look much from the outside, he was slightly surprised that the plaza was bustling with activity even though it was in the evening. It seems that everyone was trying to do last-minute shopping for the day.  
Slowly making his way through the crowd, Vio scanned around the area to look for the Smithy that the guard had told him about. Eventually managing to spy a place where it had a sign that depicted a sword and shield. As the guard in from the entrance had mentioned, it was probably closed, given how dark the inside of the shop was. _‘Oh well’_, Vio thought as he passed the shop in order to head to the clinic. It wasn’t as urgent of a thing to obtain compared to potions and healing items. 

After he had managed to purchase some rolls of bandages, he slowly began his trek back to the alley where the apothecary was located.

The alley itself was much quieter than the activity located at the plaza, but it looked to be well kept, as the front of the apothecary did not look like a house where a cryptid would be lurking. It appeared completely normal. 

Approaching the door, he was about to grab the handle when he had to jump away from it before it could slam into his face, as it revealed a young, russet-haired man stomping out with a stormy looking face, muttering under his breath. His shirt was somewhat ruffled as if someone had grabbed his collar. He had a small cut on his lip. 

Vio raised his eyebrow as he observed the young man who left. He was curious about what had happened, but he just shook his head. No need to pry on a stranger’s conflicts, it wasn’t any of his business. The hero stepped inside the apothecary, quietly closing the door shut.

  
The quaint shop looked what Vio had expected from a medicinal apothecary; the shelves were filled with bottles of different sizes and shapes, and the strong smell of various herbs assaulted his nose as he passed under the dried plants that were hanging from the ceiling, along with the fresh ones that decorated the edges of the room. 

At the furthest part of the room, a young, blond-haired man with glasses was quietly crushing something in the mortar. He had stopped to look up when he heard the hero’s footsteps. 

  
“Ah, a customer! And a traveler to boot! Welcome to Verity’s Apothecary! How may I be of assistance?” the young man said as he put the tools to the side. Vio couldn’t help but notice there was a speck of red on the young man’s fist, but he quickly looked back up to answer the man’s question. “Do you have any healing potions that I could purchase?”  
The man nodded, standing up from his chair and began to scan the shelves behind him. “Yes, we do. we do have the standard red potions, a small stash of the blue potions, green magic potions, and quite a few other of my concoctions, such as energy renewal elixirs, adrenal potions, antidotal balms, and all sorts of other things. What do you wish for?”

Vio was impressed with the lineup. “You created all of this, Mr…?”  
“I'm Frosch Verity! Call me Frosch because Mr. Verity is my father!” he answered with a smile. “Father, myself, and my twin Faina work together to keep this apothecary running! I'm the main brewer and mixer, Father is the hunter that gets the parts required, and my sister manages the plants that we use. We all can make concoctions though!” 

The hero nodded. He guessed it made sense that it was a family-owned business, judging the name of this shop. “Well,” Vio started, checking how many empty bottles he had. There was two. “I would like a blue potion in this,” he took out the first empty bottle. “And can you tell me what kind of topical medicines and balms you have?” 

Frosch nodded as he took the empty bottle and went to the sink to rinse it before he poured in the blue potion. “Well, we do have some balms that help with burn wounds, some basic antidotal medicine, a topical elixir that works as emergency first aid for cuts that needs to be sealed, and-”  
  
Before Frosch could ramble on, an ear-piercing scream reverberated from outside. Instinctively, Vio brought his left hand toward the Four Sword strapped to his back. “What was that?” he exclaimed. When he looked back, the young man was pale as a sheet. “That scream…!”

Setting the bottle aside, he quickly ducked under the counter door, not bothering to lift it as he rushed out of the apothecary. Vio, quickly swiping his potion bottle from the counter, ran right after him. 

  
“Frosch!” Vio called after him. “Do you know who that was!?”  
“That scream was definitely Farone, a childhood friend of ours!”  
The two men ran toward the end of the alleyway where they had heard the scream. Skidding over a corner, they saw a young girl with flowing platinum hair trembling in the corner, a hand covering her mouth and her vision fixated toward something they could not see.  
Frosch ran forward to comfort the girl, shaking her shoulder lightly. “Farone, what happened?” 

  
Vio could visibly see the young girl struggling to find words, and as such, she was slowly lifting her right hand to point where she was staring, right behind the man who was asking her the question. Vio slowly brought his line of sight toward where she was pointing, as did Frosch.  
The sight that appeared in front of Vio would forever be sealed in his mind.  
Under the crimson full moon, half on the road and on the flowerbed laid a still figure, face down. Blond-colored hair was spread out like a halo. What was unnatural of this was from her lower back, a silver knife was protruding, reflecting the weak red moonlight. Tracks of red had bloomed outward from the knife, like that of a crimson flower. Her left leg was unnaturally bent outwards, small beads were scattered from the broken accessory with a small bag attached to the end, and her right arm was stretched toward the pavement, the hand painted bloody red.

The white flowers beneath her were dyed red.

The hero grimaced at the sight but quickly went up to the young woman to confirm whether if she did not have a pulse, putting his fingers on the female’s throat.

There was none, and the skin was cold to the touch. She must have died a while ago.

As he took his hand away from the body, he spied something rather strange near the right hand.  
Before he could check it, someone barreled into him and pushed him away onto the ground.  
It was Frosch, crying out loud for the woman who was gone. “Faina?! Faina, no! It can’t be! Please wake up!”   
Frosch shook the body hard, turning her over in hopes to see her face.  
None of them could hold in the gasps when they witnessed her face.  
Scars of burn wounds were spread all across her face, knots, and blisters shutting her left eye closed. It painted a rather gruesome picture.

“The scream came from here Officer!”

Shouts were heard from the alleyway the two had raced in from, and Vio swung around to see two adults scrambling in.

One of the guys was the exact same person that had almost slammed the Apothecary’ front door in Vio ‘s face.

Both of the newcomers had frozen at the sight, but the person in uniform had quickly recovered and stepped toward the scene.

“Sir please, let go of the body, I understand that you are shocked and do not want to let go, please understand this is also a crime scene,” the calm officer spoke. “We will get the perpetrator, but we need the clues. You need to allow us to investigate the crime scene.”

Frosch was silent as he had his head hung low, obscuring his eyes as shudders wracked his shoulders. 

“Please.”

With a shaky nod, he lowered the girl named Faina back to the ground, with the lodged blade in the back facing upwards. 

It seemed that it had been a while since the stabbing had happened, as there was not as much blood on Frosch’s shirt as Vio thought he would have.

The officer carefully placed his fingers to check for a pulse, like Vio had done, before asking questions to the people who were present at the crime scene. 

“Hello traveler, as much I would not be asking a non-resident these questions first, but as the victim is too close to Frosch, and it seems that you are the only level-headed witness right now, I need to ask you the questions,” he told Vio. “Please state your name and why you were here.”

The purple-clad hero nodded. “Yeah, call me Vio. I just entered this village to stock on supplies, mostly bandages, and healing potions. I was at the apothecary with him,” he gestured toward the unmoving blond man, “when we heard the scream. I followed right after Frosch when he shouted a girl’s name, which I think is the girl over there,” pointing to the aforementioned girl who was trembling in the arms of the man that had rushed over with the officer. “When we arrived over here, the victim was lying on her stomach, halfway on the flowerbed and her right hand on the pavement. I saw something nearby her hand, but I did not see what was there yet.” The officer looked where Vio hand stated about. 

“...Che, this won’t do...” 

Vio peeked over the officer’s shoulder and almost let out a curse of his own.

It seemed that with Frosch’s impulsive but understandable behavior, the blood from the girl’s backside had dribbled over whatever mark, surely a dying message, that had been nearby the right hand.

Possibly one of the biggest hints that could have helped them crack the case.

“Th-that knife…”  
Both he and the officer had turned around to see who had spoken.  
It was the girl who had found the body first, Farone. She was nestled between the other man’s arm. Was he her boyfriend or something?  
Vio shook his head the stray thought as he focused on the conversation.  
“Miss Indol? Do you recognize the weapon?”  
A small nod. “W-wasn’t that… the ceremonial knife...that your family has, Frosch?”  
The trembling youth gave a start when his name was called. “Wh-what?”  
The officer spoke slowly. “Mr. Verity, is what Miss Indol said true? Is this your family’s ceremonial knife?”

  
With stiff movements, Frosch had slowly moved toward to confirm whether the weapon that took Faina’s life away was something he recognized. After staring at the silver knife for a bit, his face seemed to pale even further.  
He gave a single nod, at a loss for words.  
With tightened lips, the officer fully turned to the trembling man. “Did your sister or any of your family members use that knife that often?”  
“I only use them when we are making our special potions, and sis uses it to harvest the ingredients for said potions. She must have been using it tonight.”  
“And on the night when the Crimson moon is out?”  
Vio heard the other man who had been comforting Farone bite out in an aggressive tone.  
“Wh-what are you implying, Ishtari!?” Frosch growled out at the russet-haired man. 

“Oh, I don’t know, that you were doing some ritual related to black arts?”  
Farone gave him an incredulous look. “P-please Finn, no. Don’t fight now, when Faina is, is…” 

The man, Finn, held his stance a little longer before he looked back Farone, his earlier aggressiveness dissipating.  
The officer stood up to get between the two men. “Peace, gentlemen. While I would like to continue this at the station, I cannot leave the body alone, so I’ll just have to ask you some more questions while we wait for my partner to arrive with the doctors.”  
Thankfully they all backed down, even it the tensions were still a little high.

  
While they were waiting beside the body, Vio was able to glean some important information about what all of them were doing.  
Frosch was manning the apothecary since noon and had been making and selling potions to people, including the officer and Farone. Their father was out in the woods and was returning soon. He had a small disagreement with Finn Ishtari, the son of the owner of Ishtari works before Vio had walked into the apothecary, and they were together since.  
Farone Indol, the only daughter of Victor Indol, a Father of the church had been doing errands for her father who was manning the church and preparing for the “dark things that come with the crimson moon” (which made Frosch twitch a little), before heading toward the alleyway to use the shortcut to get back home when she found the body. Finn Ishtari was at the forge most of the time with his father, only leaving once around noon time to grab something to eat. He then had a little argument with Frosch in the apothecary after closing up the forge, before he had gone off with a huff a few minutes before he heard the scream of his girlfriend. There was no discrepancy between Frosch and Finn’s account, but they both stated the argument was not related to Faina and did not disclose what it was about to the officer.

  
The officer was trying to ask more about the arguments before he was interrupted by a call.  
“Officer Elias!”  
The group turned toward the call to see another officer with 2 people wearing white coats.  
“Inspector Nial! Thank Hylia that you have come! Sadly the victim was too late for us to save, rigor mortis has already set in by the time I had arrived.”  
The first doctor, a tall female with raven hair, spoke up. “Then that must mean it has been a while since the time of death, but we will not know for sure until we figure it out. Doctor Yu?” 

The other doctor nodded his head. “Inspector Nial, we will need to take the body back to the clinic so we can exam properly. May we have your permission?”  
“Yes, you may. Officer Elias, take all of the witness to the Office for further questioning, we need to question them individually. Ask Officer Morag to help you. I will need to assess the scene of the crime, send a few other officers over.

  
  
\---

It had taken them about an hour, but the interrogation had to be ended for the day as the full moon, now completely white, was nearing the zenith of the night sky. Vio had reluctantly agreed to stay for the night as they still needed more information about the incident. While the officers stated that it was for his safety to stay within the village, Vio knew what they were implying though: until the autopsy results come in, they were all suspects as well. 

When all of them were released, Vio offered to take Frosch home because he was worried about his mental state. It was understandable though. He just found his sister, likely his twin’s, dead body at the end of the alleyway.  
Along the way to the apothecary, Vio questioned one thing that was nagging at the back of his mind.

  
“Black magic?”  
Frosch tensed a little before letting out a big sigh.

“That’s a misnomer. Its real name is Lunar magic or Yin arts. It does relate to magic using the shadow affinity, but it is not evil.”

  
Vio tried his very hardest not to flinch at the revelation because now was not the time for his biases. He needed the questions to be answered. 

But Frosch must have sensed his trepidation about shadow magic, as he began a brisk pace toward the apothecary that they had rushed out earlier. “I forgot that the shop is unlocked, I have to hurry, thank you for the support traveler, but I must…” 

Frosch halted as soon as the entrance to the apothecary was visible from their angle. 

3 figures were standing in front of the door.

Vio tensed, mentally readying himself in case the murder came back to kill Frosch as well because it was very possible that the culprit was going after the siblings.

  
“Father!”

The hero came out of his focus, startled as Frosch suddenly disappeared from his side.  
_‘Father?’_  
Quickly rushing after him, Vio reached the group of people that Frosch slammed himself into, sobbing. 

“Frosch, shhh, what’s wrong, tell me, my boy, what has you so upset? You usually don’t cry?”

The young man could not let out more than sobs, so Vio took up to the task.”  
“Mr. Verity? I’m a traveler who just came by, and I was escorting your son home.”  
The man, and the two other figures, both petite, raven-haired girls wearing matching black dresses, a flower hairpin, and silver-colored chokers with different designs glanced back at him with a start when he spoke.

  
“State your name, Traveler, and why he needed an escort,” the burly man who was the father of the young man glared a suspicious look at him.  
He raised his hands to show he meant no harm. “Please sir, I am worried for you son Frosch, he’s had a trying night.” 

Before the father could say anything, the twin girls grabbed his shoulders.

“What was that commotion over in the alleyway?”  
“We thought we heard someone scream?”  
“That girl’s scream-”

“-Sounded like Farone?”  
**“Is she okay?”**

Vio was a bit startled by this back-and-forth questioning, but he managed to get what they were asking.

“Yes, the girl who screamed was okay, but…”

**“But what?”**

Vio gulped as he mentally prepared himself to deliver the shattering news.

But he was spared from that heavy duty.

“...Sis...Faina…s-she’s, gone...f-from this p-plane…” a voice shuddered.

Silence had blanketed the area when Frosch had uttered those words.

“W-wh-”  
“...what…?”

“Faina is...gone?”  
“H-how…”  
Vio started opening his mouth to explain, but he side-eyed the two young females. He was reluctant to tell this in front of the two petite twins, but the father spoke with a rough voice. “Go ahead, the van Andel twins are pretty much family at this point, they have a right to know.  
As such, Vio spoke of what had occurred that night to the mourning family.

\---

The apothecary was quiet as the three people took in the news of Faina’s fate as Frosch kept his face pressed in his father’s chest.

“So...we do not know how long Faina was there, alone?”  
Vio shook his head slowly. He wished he knew the estimated time of death, but alas the doctors had yet to come and determine the time of death, nor the cause of death, although he guessed it was the silver ceremonial knife.  
One of the girls began sobbing, and her twin scooted toward her to pat her back. “Cissi, I know it’s hard, but we need to stay strong…”  
“...but Fae...She’s...she’s…”

  
He averted his eyes from the mourning twins and turned to face the father. 

The father’s face was shadowed over in the bleak light from the lamp. He was silent the whole time Vio had told them the story.

He then stood up quietly, hauling his son up as well. 

“Thank you, traveler, for the information, and being there for Frosch when I could not. If you don’t have a place to stay for the night, I will offer you ours tonight. I also see that you are experienced with the sword,” he gestured toward the Four Sword situated on Vito’s back. “May I ask you to keep my son safe for the night, just in case? I need to escort the Twins back home, it’s too dangerous to let them go by myself.” 

“I will.”  
  
With the father gone with the Twins, and Frosch sleeping in his room, Vio let out a small sigh as he carefully kept watch. This situation where he was all by himself without his counterparts to back him up was a first, and it was worse when he had to be alert of a possible ambush. He did not have anyone to rely on for back up, nor did he had three others to bounce off theories with, which was something he sorely needed right now. By himself, there was a lot of things he needed to pay attention to, and little time to make detailed observations. While Vio loved puzzles and mental challenges, trying to solve a mystery with the killer still on the loose was very stressful to think as felt in his guts that he was on the clock to solve it before the perpetrator escapes or takes another person.  
_‘The only hints I saw was the broken accessory bag with the beads strewn across the pavement, the silver knife which apparently is a ceremonial knife that they use to prepare “Special potion,” and the possible dying message that got obscured because of the jostling of the body...agh, I don’t have enough information!’_

Sighing in frustration, Vio looked out of the window. The full moon had just passed the zenith of the night sky, indicating it was well past midnight. Vio let out a small curse. He could definitely imagine how frantic the others would be, being absent from the camp for this long, but he knew if he snuck out at this timing, he would be suspected and apprehended, which was something he did not want to go through.  
_‘Well, I guess I have to stay alert for the night…’_

\---

The hero was woken by the small chirping of birds and the sound of rustling bedsheets. Beyond the window, the sun was slowly beginning to peek out from the horizon.  
Shaking off his drowsiness, Vio looked up to see Frosch slowly uncovering the bedsheets.

He had a completely blank expression on his face.

Vio bit his lip. What could he say to greet him and help him, especially after what had happened last night? No one in their mind would be okay! As Link, he never had truly lost anyone before, so he could not fully empathize with Frosch, nor did think he would want any sympathy from Vio.  
Deep in thought, he almost did not react to Frosch’s question.

“What are you doing here…”  
Vio turned toward the young man, whose eyes were dull and clouded with grief and sorrow.

“Your father had offered me a place to stay in exchange for making sure you were safe inside the house.”  
Frosch tilted his head to the side. “But this house has protection amulets and rings in place, no intruders with ill intent could pass the counter of the store and to our house…”  
That gave Vio pause. If such spells were in place, and Frosch was confident about the amulets working…

Then why did he ask Vio to stay and protect Frosch?

“Hmmm...this is odd.” 

The hero was brought out of his thoughts and looked up to see Frosch up with his glasses back on and tracing his hand at a poster of an odd symbol on a wall.

“It seems that Father hasn’t come home yet. Did he stay at Fae and Cissi’s place…?”

_’…sh**!’_

Vio accidentally startled Frosch out of his musing as he stood up rather abruptly. 

“Sir Vio?”

“Do you know which path your father would have taken the twins back home?!” Vio asked in an urgent tone.  
“Uh, not really, but we have an artifact that would lead me to a person in our family?”  
“Can you use it right now?! We may need to find him quick!”

  
Frosch was startled at his harsh tone but complied to his request. Frantically going to a desk, he quickly pulled out the drawer and fished out a small, silver ring. Uttering an inaudible prayer while he slipped it on his right middle finger, he pointed his hand out as a thin beam of green light began to point them to one direction.  
“He’s over that way… but the signal is weak?!”  
Vio could not stop himself letting out a curse this time as he strapped his sword onto his back once more.” Come on Frosch, can you take us where he is?”

The young man frantically nodded as he swiped a cloak over his shoulders and flung his door wide open, rushing down the stairs, through the shop and out of the entrance door.

  
Compared to the bustling of the early evening when Vio had arrived, the central fountain plaza was very quiet only the sound of the water from the fountain and the patter of their feet as they ran across the stone bricks. The air was bitter and cold from the night before, and the sun was causing the morning mist to rise, obscuring their line of view.

  
The ring had eventually led them toward through an alleyway that led toward a white building that distinctly looked like a church. 

“We are almost to the twins’ house!” Frosch yelled, before skidding to a stop, the beam from the ring pulsing brighter when Frosch pointed his hand toward the entrance to a smaller alleyway.

They both rushed in, only for their footsteps to falter a few meters in the alley. 

Frosh’s father was leaning on the wall of the alleyway, a thin line of blood trickling down from his forehead. Vio could see that he was still alive by the minuscule movement of his chest, which was a small relief.

  
What was not relieving was the rest of the alleyway. 

It looked like as there was a small storm that happened, as boxes were strewn haphazardly, small holes peppered on the walls.  
Along with dried streaks of crimson blood.

Among the carnage was a petite body in a black dress, lying on her back, limbs in an awkward angle.

Both of the men were frozen at the sight of blood strewn everywhere, eyes wide with disbelief.

Trying to put away the feeling of anguish to the side, Vio quickly snapped out of his stupor and rush toward the older man’s side, Frosh following right behind. Lifting up the father’s bangs, he examined the wound. Both men had to hold back a wince. Right above the bleeding gash, there was a huge bump on his forehead, indicating he had been hit with blunt force. 

Giving Frosch the blue potion, he was about to stand up and assess the other girl when he heard someone.

“Oh heavens above, what happened here?!”

Vio spun around toward the source of the voice.  
A slim tall man dressed in white robes was standing at the entrance of the alley, one hand clutching an accessory close to his chest as he took in the gruesome scene they found.

“Sir! Could you please get the officers, please?! We have one man unconscious, another one-”  
“I will alert them, and bring the doctors over as well,” the man stated as he quickly ran toward the plaza, still clutching his necklace tightly as the robes flapped behind him.  
  
It really did not take that long for help to arrive, thankfully before any other citizens woke up.  
While they were waiting for the authorities and doctors to come (he did not want to move Frosch’s father even though they had administered the blue potion because head injuries were nasty business), Vio managed to observe the crime scene, after making sure whether the girl was alive or not. He was glad that the wild, tousled hair was obscuring her face, as he caught a glimpse of horrible burn injuries blackened and deforming her face, just like Faina’s face. He was rather glad that he had a strong stomach. Besides her face, Vio could see there were angry red burn marks on the girl’s hands as well. Perhaps it was due to her trying to shield her face.

  
Another thing he had noticed was that the silver choker that the twins were wearing was deformed, melted, and blackened. Vio could not tell what was the original shape anymore.  
Various cuts and lacerations could be seen all over her body, but he could see that the main cause of death was the one red line that went across her throat. He searched around for any other clues, such as for the weapon in case it was dropped. 

It was missing, along with something, or someone else.

The other twin.

While it was a little relieving that there wasn’t another body lying around, it was equally worrying that there wasn’t a trace of the other twin.

\---

While Frosch had left the crime scene with his father when the officers and doctors had arrived and took them away, Vio stayed behind with one of the inspectors, which was person that was testing his patience quite a bit due to him asking questions that seemed rather unrelated, such as his affinity of magic, and if he used said magic, along with some undertones of disdain toward the van Andel twins. He did not understand why this officer seemed so uncaring about the young girls.  
He also needed to gain more information as well.

“Excuse me, officer? Do you not find it weird for that man with the white robes over there to pass by this alleyway at such a timing?”

The haughty officer leveled a look at the hero.”Watch your words, _boy_, that is Father Victor Indol, the priest that manages the church dedicated to the goddesses, and is a skilled practitioner of the light magic! And address me as Inspector Frederich!”  
Vio had to hold in a sigh as he tried not to tune him out. “_Inspector Frederich,_ may I ask why you are not questioning why Father Victor was out and about at that time?”

“He always makes his rounds from the church to the fountain, then the perimeter of the village at sunrise, boy. And why am I telling you this, I’m the one who should be asking questions!”

The haughty inspector really grated on his nerves.

\---

  
By the time Vio managed to get out of the interrogation and managed to see where Frosch and his father were, the sun was well above the horizon and near midway. He was not able to glean any more clues about the crime scene, and there was now a manhunt for the missing twin. Vio wanted to let out a cry of protest on how they were treating and suspecting the other twin. While their meeting was brief, he saw the deep bond the twins had, and he can bet on his books that there was no way that one sister would kill the other. He hoped that Frosch’s father was awake so they get more clues.

  
However, it seems that the goddesses were not smiling upon them that day.

“He is in a coma?!”

Frosch slowly nodded, his hair obscuring his eyes. “They said he had lost a lot more blood than we thought he had, and given the fact that it was cold last night, and we have no clue how long he would have been there unconscious. There is the fact that the blunt trauma on his head would have caused a concussion. The Blue potion helped him, but he still needs time to recover.”

“...then do you know which of the Twins the body was? We might be able to find the other girl if we know who it was?!”  
The other man began tugging on his hair. “That’s what I thought, but we can’t tell whether its Cissi or Fae’s body, as her face is burnt beyond recognition, and the amulet she had was too deformed for me to tell which one it was either.”

  
Vio was very frustrated. Another would-be evidence was out of his reach while the killer was still on the loose.  
How was he going to catch the culprit when he had little clues given to him and with no idea what the culprit’s MO was? 

He really wanted to strike something down to lessen his frustration, but he knew that would be counterproductive. Besides, that was what something more of Blue’s thing, not him.

Instead, he sat down next to Frosch, mulling over what clues he had amassed and what other information he would be able to obtain. There were a few things he was curious about...

“Frosch, can you tell me a little about the twins and the man from the church? Father Victor Indol?”

The mentioned man gave him a confused look. “Why?”

“Because I want to get to the bottom of this. I am someone who cannot sit on the sidelines when there is injustice happening. The culprit must be caught, and the remaining twin should be saved and under protective custody.”

Frosch was very quiet from Vio’s outburst, an incredulous look on his face before it morphed into a bittersweet smile. “Thank you Vio, I would have thought you would have been frustrated that you got tangled into this and wanted nothing to do with this. I guess there are truly altruistic people in this world.”

Vio arched an eyebrow at that. “I would have thought the Father would be altruistic person, is he not?”

A scoff came out of the man’s mouth. “Father Victor? He may have that altruistic front, but being a man of religion does not mean he doesn’t have any motives when helping out. He may be kind, but he is still human after all.”

That made sense to Vio, but he was curious as to why he had a tone of disdain when talking about the Father.  
“Do you or your family have anything against him? Or him against yours?”  
Frosch shook his head. “Not really, it’s just sometimes we debate on the views of magic, the two different paths. He tends to see it as black and white, even though it is all about balance.”

  
Vio once briefly read about the Left-Hand and the Right-Hand paths of magic, so he was a little intrigued about how different practitioners of magic viewed this. 

“So you guys see the left-hand and right-hand paths as just opposing paths of magic?”

“Yes. Left-hand relates to shadow magic, while the Right-hand would relate to light magic. Nothing else. I don’t practice much and just dabble with it...the twins and my sister would have been more capable of explaining this...I’m sorry Vio.”

\---

For the whole afternoon, the purple-wearing Four Sword wielder went around town trying to ask the townsfolk more information regarding Faina Verity and the van Andel twins, but all that he was able to learn was that they were skillful practitioners of magic, and they had frequently purchased protection amulets and rings from them, and they were generally respected people due to how well their wares worked and how useful it was.

He received the same answers regarding the Indol family as well, and they were often called to help dispel any harmful spirits, as well as keeping the village safe with their magic. When it came to which magic they preferred, Vio managed to glean that the Indol family preferred magic related to the Sun and light, while Faina and the van Andel twins utilized magic related to the Moon and shadows.

The populace, however, was leaning more towards the view of the two magic branches being black and white, evil versus good. Not to his surprise, Inspector Frederich was such a person. Only a handful few of the village residents thought it differently. As such, the populace preferred the services from the Indol family, while they pretended to not see how the Verity and van Andel families’ magic worked due to it being too useful for them to kick them out of the village. Vio grimaced at the fact, as it made him realize that he would have done the same thing.

The hero shook that thought out of his head. Now was not the time to question his views on magic.

Now he needed to find the Indol family and Finn Ishtari to get more information about this case. It was a little curious that Vio was not able to locate them in this town. He needed to ask Finn his story what had happened in the apothecary just before Vio had entered, as his instincts were telling him that it was related to these series of killings.

Vio was so immersed in his thoughts, shuffling through all the information that he gathered that when he looked up, he was a bit surprised a full moon was already visible in the dusky sky. He debated on whether to go find a place to sleep or not, as he was still paranoid about what had happened during the night time.

That inner debate became a moot point right after, as the choice was taken away from him.

In a sudden roar of force and heat, Vio was thrown off of his feet as a mighty swirl of red fire blew out from the alleyway he was in. Bringing his shield up, he managed to avoid the worst of the initial storm of fire.

What jumped into his eyes when he peeks over his shield was a horrifying scene.  
Pillars of red and orange were engulfing every house, flames licking the cobblestones of the broken pathway. Desperate screams and cries of confusion rang out in the midst of the roaring fire as people were frantically trying to escape from the waves of fire. He could see black smoke billowing through the air, and from what he could tell, the buildings in the particular alleyway was not the only ones that were engulfed in the fire. 

It seems that multiple fires had started at once. And it was magical in origin, as the rate of the spread was not normal.

Wishing he had some of Wild’s fireproof elixirs, he ran into the firestorm to start helping people evacuate, putting his shield away and covering his mouth with a cloth. He winced a bit as he felt the burns that he got from his shield that got heated from the initial wave of fire.

“Somebody please help!”

Vio sprinted toward the cry that sounded awfully familiar.

What he found was a little surprising.

A white transparent dome of energy was erected, holding up a flaming wooden beam.

Crouched within the dome was Farone, arms spread above her, shielding another female and a child who were shaking in terror.

“Oh, Traveler! Please help us! Can you push the flaming pillar away? If I release the barrier it’s going to fall on us!”

Vio gritted his teeth as his mind was racing a mile a minute to figure out what was the best way to get it off from them. Bombs were out of the question as the that would cause the already precarious structural integrity to collapse. Using his fire rod was also too risky because he did not know what would happen if one magical fire interacted with another magical fire. The gust jar was also too risky because there was so much fire surrounding him he did not want to find out what would happen if he manipulated the wind.

He had no choice but to shove the pillar while it was still burning.

Bringing out his shield again, Vio began pushing the pillar as much as he could, gritting his teeth as he endured the heat that was making his shield hotter.

With a grunt and a final push, the hero managed to push the pillar away just enough for Farone to safely release the shield. 

“Thank you traveler!” she cried out, panting a little. _‘She must have maintained that magical barrier for a while to be out of breath,‘ _Vio thought as he took off the shield.

“Do you know what happened here?” He gritted out as he tried his best to ignore the burning pain.

Farone frantically shook her head in the negative, her ash-covered face marred with worry. “No sir, the explosion and the firestorm happened so suddenly, I had trouble seeing what was going on. I can’t find Finn anywhere, and father is still inside the church!” she said, pointing to the church on the other side of the street.

Vio could see pillars of flaming red shooting out from windows.

“I should go inside the church to find him!”

  
Vio grabbed her arm before the young girl could go anywhere. “Farone don’t do that! It’s too dangerous to go into a burning building! I can see that you are already exhausted from holding up that shield spell! What if you get trapped?!”  
“B-but father-!”

“I will go inside and search for him, okay?!” He knew it was risky, but it was something he was planning to do. Just like Green, he could not sit still and watch when there were people he could possibly save.

“Y-you will?”

Vio gave the trembling girl a firm nod.

“Th-thank you, brave traveler…May I know your name?”

He was confused about why she would ask this now, but he complied. “It’s Vio.”

Farone gave him a grateful smile as she began to hold her hands. “Thank you…Oh, spirits of the light, please hear my plea in the time of darkness: May you guide the courageous man Vio, and let him be shielded by the flames that burn of ill-intent,” she chanted.  
He could feel the magic taking effect, as the flames that were producing heat of nearly unbearable levels suddenly lowered to manageable ones. He gave the light mage a small smile. “Thank you, Farone. I’ll do the best I can. Now please, get to safety!”

After he saw Farone run to the stone streets, he turned back to face the church. While he did not know how strong the effects of Farone’s spell were, so he quickly scanned the area to find an entry point.

_‘There!’_

Quickly weaving through the flames, he managed to slip through an open entryway that was fortified with stone.

  
The inside of the church was a blazing inferno that looked like it belonged in the pits of hell. Flames were everywhere, and he could barely see anything inside the church, let alone locating a person. Covering his lower half of the face and crouching low, Vio quickly scanned the area. “Father Victor? Anyone here?!”

He could only hear the deafening roar of the furious flames consuming everything around him

He was about to swiftly exit the area when he saw something curious in the middle.

There was a circular area where the flames seemed to be avoiding.

Pushing his way toward the area, he sees it is a circle that seemed made out of a red liquid that was reflecting the light of the flames, and in the middle Vio spied strange symbol seemingly scorched onto the stone floor.

However, before he could approach the area, he heard a loud **_creak _**above him.

Looking up, Vio could see that wooden beams were beginning to lose their structural integrity and collapsing.

He needed to retreat now.

** _Crash!_ **

Vio had to jump back as a pillar crashed right in front of him, blocking the way where he came from.

He had acted too late, and now he was going to pay the price.

_‘No, not like this!!!! I won’t end like this!’ _Vio thought desperately, frantically searching for another exit when he heard another loud **_crack_**.

The whole roof was coming down on him.

  
  
As the burning pieces of wood began to collapse toward him and he shut his eyes, Vio thought he heard a woman’s voice, a mixture of a cackle and a sob, along with the sound of… something ticking?

Then the burning heat disappeared along with the deafening roar.

Confused, Vio opened his eyes with a start to see a familiar and horrifying sight he saw what seemed to have happened so long ago.

His blood froze in his veins.

  
  
He was back in the alleyway with Frosch running toward a shaking Farone.  
  
The crimson full moon that was supposed to have occurred yesterday evening was dimly shining on the unmoving body of Faina.


End file.
